A Love to Last Forever
by FoSizzle
Summary: Kyoko and Ren are starring in a movie where they are lovers. But what will happen if their emotions from their acting start to effect the way that they think of each other?
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: Here's my first Skip Beat fanfic! I don't pretend to know a ton about Japanese or even most mangas, so I didn't even try to add the endings for the names on. Sorry. Just didn't want to seem like an idiot ;D Anyways, I hope you like my first attempt at this type of thing!  
_

Chapter 1

Kyoko angrily stormed down the hallway of the LME building. Tsuruga Ren, who had been discussing his schedule with his manager, Yashiro, looked up and wondered what she was so mad about.

"Are you listening?" Yashiro said, bringing his attention back from Kyoko.

"Oh. Yeah. What did you say again?" Yashiro sighed.

"You have to be at a photo shoot in twenty minutes. We better leave now in case there's any traffic."

"Good idea," Ren said, walking towards the back entrance of the building while taking one last glance in the direction that Kyoko went.

*-*-*

_That idiot Sho! _Thought Kyoko. _Not only did he show up again just to bug me, but he insulted my looks in front of all of my co-workers! He said I still looked plain even with my plastered-on makeup!_

She passed by Tsuruga Ren and thought of turning around to say hello to him, but she was already at the end of the hallway, and it would be silly to bother him now. Besides, he looked too busy for her anyways.

Thinking about Ren made her calm down in the way that only he could, and she already felt better. She slowed her pace as she remembered what she had come into the LME building for. She had gotten word that a producer had asked for her, but she did not know who, or what the movie was about.

As she opened the door to the small office, she realized that there was nobody at the desk. Deciding to wait until Sawara came back, she sat down in one of the chairs closest to the table. As she looked over the organized papers on the desk, she saw a folder with her name on it in small black letters.

After wondering whether or not she should take it, she decided to look at it, so when Sawara returned, she would be ready with her choice immediately. She carefully picked up the thin yellow folder and began to skim over the first page.

The title of the movie was called A Love to Last Forever. So it was a romance, then. And they had asked Kyoko to be the lead actress! From what she read about the story, her character was a harsh businesswoman, with Mio-like anger. But after she meets and keeps on seeing him coincidentally, her harsh exterior melts away. The two fall in love, but after a few years, the man catches an incurable disease and dies a few weeks later. The woman then has to go on alone with their two children as she tries to cope with her husband's death.

As Kyoko finished the short summary, she knew that she wanted to be this character. She hoped that being a character in love would help her broaden her line of work. Maybe then she would get more roles that weren't just about Mio!

She looked down at the actor who would play her love interest and took a sharp intake of breath. It was Tsuruga Ren!

As she closed the folder again, she thought again about accepting the job. If it was Tsuruga, maybe it would be awkward to play her part! But she was sure that he would be professional with his acting, and maybe she would learn more acting tips from him!

She was started from her thoughts as the door swung open and Sawara walked in, holding a cup of coffee.

"Oh! Kyoko! I see you have already seen the new job proposal! What do you think of it?"

"I'll take it!" she said seriously, standing up and bowing to him. He looked a bit shocked and she realized that she had probably said that a bit too quickly.

"Great!" he said calmly, regaining some of his composure. "And did you see that Director Ogata is helping to direct the movie?" Kyoko glanced down at the paper again. She had completely missed that!

"Well I would be extremely happy to take the job, sir!" she said, bowing again.

"I will make the arrangements then," he said, returning her bow with a nod of his head. Most of the LME staff that Kyoko had met had learned just to put up with her little oddities.

"I have to go, sir, but I thank you for what you have done for me!" she said, stepping towards the door.

"Wait! You should probably take the information sheet so you can read over you part some more. And I will have Director Ogata send you the complete script as soon as possible."

"Oh, right," she said, stepping forwards to take the small folder. She had forgotten all about the information sheet. "When is the filming going to begin?" she asked.

"In a month," he answered. "The exact date is on the sheet."

"Thank you again!" she called out, waving to him as she walked out the door. The reason that she was hurrying was that she was supposed to pick up several papers and give them to the president of the LME building.

When she got the huge stack of papers, she started to hurry down the hallways to get to eh president. She was walking very quickly when she turned the corner and crashed into Yashiro.

"Oh I'm so sorry!" she said, rubbing her forehead with one hand. From what she could tell, she had kept all of her papers, but Yashiro had dropped most of his on the floor.

"It's all right," he said, quickly kneeling down ot pick up the papers. Kyoko tried to help, but every time she leaned own, her pile threatened to topple over. Yashiro quickly collected the papers and stood up again. "See, no harm done." Kyoko smiled.

"That's good. I have to go now, but it was good seeing you. Can you tell Tsuruga hello from me?" Yashiro nodded and Kyoko started on her way again.

*-*-*

"Is anything wrong, Kyoko?" asked the president of the LME building.

"Oh, everything's fine," she said, going through the papers again. "All of you papers are here." She looked up again and smiled at him. "Yes, everything for you is here."

"All right," said the president.

"I'm sorry, I have to be somewhere soon," said Kyoko. "Goodbye, Mr. President."

"Goodbye, Kyoko."

She quickly turned around and walked out of the office, finally letting the panicked expression show on her face. Her folder for her new movie was missing!

*-*-*

Yashiro cautiously led Ren into the fast food restaurant. Ren had sunglasses and a hat on, but they couldn't be too careful. They had stopped here in between two of Ren's jobs because he had an especially busy schedule today and hadn't eaten anything.

"I'll go get the food. You wait here," Yashiro said, motioning for Ren to sit down at a booth in the far end of the restaurant. "I brought some paperwork for you to do. Here's the papers I was telling you about earlier this morning, and here's the information for the new movie that you're going to do." Ren nodded and took the folders while Yashiro walked off to get their meals. He picked up the first folder, the one that Yashiro said was about the movie, and two papers fell out.

"Yashiro?" he asked when his manager had come back. "Why does one of these say my name and one of them say Kyoko's?"

"Oh, she must have dropped it on my stack of papers when she ran into me in the hallway," he explained. "It's for a part in the same movie, so that must be why I put it in that folder."

"We will have to return it to her as soon as possible then," Ren said, about to put it back in the folder. "But I wonder what part she got…" He looked down at the sheet and Yashiro saw his eyes widen.

"Well? What is it?"

"She plays the character opposite mine. The one I'm in love with."

End of Chapter 1

_A/N: Ok there it is! I like reviews of all kinds, including criticism, so please review!_


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N:_Here's the next chapter! I hope you like it! I forgot to say this in the last chapter, but I do not own Skip Beat! or any of the characters.

Chapter 2

First Day of Filming

Kyoko sighed unhappily. The scenes weren't going well at all! Her character's personality was a strict businesswoman, and she just couldn't feel the emotions for it. Also, she had hoped to see Tsuruga today, but they wouldn't be working together for a while. She didn't expect him to come to the filming until about a week later.

"Kyoko! Do you want another try now?" asked Director Ogata. Kyoko straightened herself out and walked back onto the set. She was about to get into her place when some movement caught her eyes. She focused her attention on a space offstage and was shocked to see Tsuruga and his manager come in. Ren stood not far offstage and looked at her. She could see a small smile directed at her and felt her heart sour.

She turned around to face the Director again and said, "Yes. I think I am ready now."

*-*-*

As Ren watched Kyoko act onstage, he couldn't help but be impressed. She seemed to fit in to the character's emotions, and played the part quite convincingly. She really had grown in talent since he first met her in the LME building.

"Ren…" he heard Yashiro say. He turned around and saw him grinning somewhat evilly.

"What?"

"You're smiling at Kyoko again. I would be careful not to make your female fans jealous." Ren quickly shut out all emotions in his face and turned around again.

"I'm just proud. That's all."

"Oh, I'm so sure. And of course it has nothing to do with the fact that in a few days you will start filming with Kyoko."

"Of course not," Ren said, but a small grin caught the corner of his mouth at the thought.

Fourth Day of Filming

"Get out of my way!" shouted Kyoko angrily.

"And what if I don't?" asked Ren, grinning at her. Kyoko scowled at him.

"I have no use for you. Security!"

"All right! All right! But remember what I told you," he said, winking and turning away.

_That idiot! _Thought Kyoko, another scowl forming on her face as she walked away.

"Cut!"

Kyoko relaxed her face and sighed. Her persona was exhausting to keep up, mostly because she was angry and scowling most of the time. She walked over to Ren, who was over with his manager during the break. She heard a few words of their conversation before she got to him.

"It's hard… always angry at me… Yeah, I know… I know!" She heard Yashiro start laughing.

"Hey, Tsuruga!" she said, walking up to him with a smile on her face. She saw his face turn up with a glowing smile that always made her feel special.

"Hello, Mogami. You were excellent with your acting today."

"Thank you, senpai!" she said happily. She was always happy when he praised her, since he was such a great actor as well as her senpai. For some reason, though, his smile quickly faded into one of his fake smiles. She wondered why, since she didn't think she had done anything to make him mad at her.

*-*-*

Tenth Day of Filming

Ren braced himself for the next scene. It was one where his character "accidentally" meets Kyoko's character again. This time, however, she hesitantly agrees to spend time with him and they spend the night dancing. At the end of the set of scenes is their first kiss, which was what Ren feared the most. What if he showed his true emotions and he ruined the scene? Kyoko would be angry and might feel scared of him. He had to keep his entire attention on the scene and not on his emotions.

"Action!" shouted the Director.

"So we meet again," Ren smiled. Kyoko was sitting on a bench in a park, wearing jogging clothes. She looks very tired, and just looks up at him.

"What are you doing here?" she asked angrily.

"I just happened to see you passing by and stopped to see you. You seem like you aren't aren't doing anything at the moment so…"

"I don't need you to keep me entertained! I was already doing something!"

"Of course. Then you will just want me to go." He started to turn around when she called out to him.

"Wait."

"Do you want me to stay here with you?" he asked, grinning.

"Yes," she said, looking down. He stared at her until she slowly looked up and took her hand gently.

"Come with me. May I take you out to dinner?" she looked at him, surprised, but slowly smiled.

"Yes, I would like that."

"Cut!"

Both actors relaxed and then smiled at each other. Kyoko stood up and walked with Ren offstage. As they both walked towards their things, since the day's filming was over, Ren stopped her. He took a deep breath and gathered his courage.

"Mogami…"

"Yes?" she smiled at him, and he immediately felt better.

"I was wondering if you would like to go to dinner with me. I don't have anything planned for tonight." He saw her grow shocked and back-tracked. "I mean, it would be a business dinner. We would discuss the filming and things like that…" _Tsuruga Ren is nervous, _Yashiro realized with a laugh. But Kyoko's face lost it's confusion and she said, "Sure, okay. I'd love to!" Ren had a sigh of relief and told her, "Great, I'll pick you up at your house tonight at 7:00."

"I'll be there!" Kyoko said happily.

*-*-*

"You look like a girl who's going on her first date," smirked Kanae.

"I just want to look nice for Tsuruga!" said Kyoko, twirling back to face her. "I want to look my best for our business dinner."

"Suuure…"

"I do." Kyoko gently slapped her on the shoulder. "Besides, I'm sure that Tsuruga doesn't feel that way for me. He is my senpai!"

_I wouldn't be too sure, _thought Kanae. _I've seen the way he looks at you, and it's not just as a senpai._

"Anyways, how does this outfit look?" she asked, turning back to the mirror in Kanae's room. She didn't have an appropriate outfit for dinner with Tsuruga Ren, so she had to borrow on of her best friend's. she was wearing a simple black dress with black high heels and a silver clutch bag. Kanae had done her makeup expertly, and Kyoko felt like a real movie star.

"It looks great on you. You look beautiful," Kanae smiled at her.

"Thank you Moko!" Kyoko said, pulling her friend into a hug. "We better get going to my house so I'll be ready when he comes."

*-*-*

About an hour later, Ren and Kyoko were seated down at a table in on of the fanciest restaurants in the city. Kyoko was sill marveling at the beautiful interior decorations, while Ren was marveling at Kyoko. He almost couldn't believe that it was _him _who she was having dinner with. After an elegant dinner that Kyoko enjoyed because she felt like a noble, Ren decided to take another leap.

"I was thinking, Mogami, that we might want to…practice, for tomorrow's filming. Dancing, I mean." _Why do I sound so nervous all the time around her?_

"That's a great idea!" Kyoko smiled. Ren sighed, relieved, and stood up.

"Then may I have this next dance?" Kyoko looked startled, but stood up with him and took his hand hesitantly. He led he onto the elaborate dance floor where couples were swaying back and forth to the music coming from the band.

"I actually don't know how to dance, really," Kyoko said, embarrassed.

"All the more reason for us to practice then." Ren smiled warmly and put his hand on her waist. "We will not stop until I am satisfied with your dancing skills." Kyoko nodded, suddenly very nervous, and stiffly put her hand on his shoulder, giving him a nervous smile. Ren laughed quietly and said, "You've got to be more realistic than that. We're going to be lovers, remember?"

Kyoko nodded again and told herself that she was going to be acting out a character, and she should do it to the best of her abilities, especially with Tsuruga Ren around.

"All right." She smiled again, this time seductively. She was feeling some of Natsu's confidence come to her and she draped her arms around his neck and came closer to him.

Rend was suddenly the nervous one now, but he didn't show it. Instead, he put both of his arms around her waist and held her close as they swayed back and forth to the music.

They continued to dance like that without any interruptions until the band started to play a faster song and Ren stepped away a little bit, holding her hands instead. Kyoko smiled and started to dance to the faster beat. Ren wondered is she really did know how to dance before or if she was just getting into character as she twirled in front of him. She seemed like she was having fun, and that was the most important thing for Ren. As they continued dancing, though, he felt sad that this was only because of the acting. But he decided to enjoy tonight and concentrated only on Kyoko's smile.

*-*-*

After many other songs, Ren and Kyoko were dancing another slow tune. As Kyoko slowly danced around the dance floor with Ren, she couldn't help feeling that she wasn't just acting the character, but was really having fun dancing with Ren. Of course, she knew that they were both only pretending to be lovers and dance like this, and for some reason her heart hurt at that fact. She decided to ignore the feeling and pressed her head happily against his chest and sighed.

*-*-*

The next day, they were dancing again onstage in front of the cameras. Kyoko was wearing a black dress similar to the one she had on last night and was pretending to be nervous around Ren's character as they slow danced.

"Just relax," Ren whispered in her ear, and she felt herself slowly becoming more comfortable with him. They danced for a few more minutes onscreen until they both stopped in the center of the dance floor. Other couples were moving around them, but the world seemed to stand still for them. Kyoko felt herself get drawn to him and slowly leaned upwards, putting her arm around his neck and kissing him.

At first, Kyoko could only feel the emotions going through her-and her character's-head. It felt so natural to be kissing Ren, and this scared her. But the kiss wasn't supposed to be over yet, so she turned her head so the camera could see it better and waited. When she pulled back, she could see that Ren's face looked blissfully happy, while her expression only showed confusion and fear. She quickly turned away, touching her mouth with her hand. Ren tried to reach out to her, but she quickly ran off of the dance floor, leaving a sad and confused Ren behind.

*-*-*

End of Chapter 2

_A/N: Awwww I feel so bad for Ren! But yeah, it's supposed to be dramatic, so that's what it's going to be like. I'll be coming out with the next chapter soon! :)_


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N:Hope you like the chapter! :D I do not own Skip Beat! or any of the characters.  
_

Chapter 3

"Cut! That was perfect! The expressions were right on!" shouted Director Ogata. As Ren continued to look at Kyoko walk offstage, he could understand why the expressions seemed real. It was because they were. Kyoko seemed genuinely shocked, even after she got offstage, and Ren couldn't help feeling a bit sad. Even though he felt somewhat bad for kissing her, since he still felt she was too young, he knew that he had enjoyed it much more than he should have. He could still feel the way that it felt to kiss her, and he knew he would remember it because he had wanted to kiss her for so long.

And he felt sad that he would only kiss her in front of the camera, but he knew that it would be best for her not to be in a relationship with Tsuruga Ren. _I guess I'll just have to take what I can get during filming and enjoy every moment of it, _he thought with a sigh.

*-*-*

As Kyoko walked offstage, Yashiro rushed up to her, holding a tabloid magazine.

"Kyoko! You have to see this!" He quickly gave her the magazine and she hurriedly read the front cover. In the center was a large picture of her and Ren slow dancing at the restaurant with Kyoko staring up at him, smiling. Above the image were the words: Has Ren Got a New Woman In His Life?

"How did they get this?" asked Kyoko. "The restaurants said that they didn't allow press in!"

"they always get in some way or another. Especially when Ren's involved. But don't worry. We've already made plans to tell people that it was a publicity stunt for the new movie that you two are starring in." _Publicity stunt? _Thought Kyoko. She had really had fun last night, and didn't want people to think it was all about the movie, but it was probably best for Ren not to be caught up with someone at work…

"Unless… you don't want us to?" Yashiro asked with a small bit of hope. Kyoko focused her expression again and said with a smile, "No, I do want you to. I don't want people to think that I am anything more than a good friend of Tsuruga's."

"Is that so?" They both turned around to see Ren coming towards them, smiling. _That's his fake smile! _Thought Kyoko fearfully. _That means that he's mad at me! But why? I'm doing this to help him!_

"Yes…" she said hesitantly. "It would probably mean bad publicity for you and some of your fans might get mad." Ren's face got even brighter, but Kyoko nearly stepped back from the negative energies he was giving off.

"How kind of you to think of me. I have to go now, but I will see you tomorrow." With that, he turned around and started walking to his car with Yashiro tailing behind him.

_What is up with him? Why is he so mad?_

*-*-*

"She only said that she didn't want your _fans _to think that you two were in love!" Yashiro told him as they drove to the next location. "She didn't say that she didn't feel that way!"

"She doesn't feel that way though," he answered back, a little gloomy. "Not that that's a bad thing. I am her senpai, after all."

"Oh, stop pretending you don't care! If you really want her, you should just ask her on another date! A _real _date this time!"

"But she doesn't want that!" Ren turned around to face his manager and Yashiro could see a flicker of pain cross his face. He turned back around and started concentrating completely on the road.

"But Ren, you love-"

"Shh. I'm concentrating." Yashiro sighed and turned away, letting Ren deal with his problems his own way.

*-*-*

That afternoon, when Kyoko was eating lunch at a restaurant with Kanae, she couldn't stop wondering why Ren was so mad! She hated to see him angry at all, and especially not at her.

"Kyoko, you look like you want to kill your food." She looked up at Kanae and realized that she had been looking angrily at her plate, releasing some o f her demons at the food in front of her. She pushed the plate away and sighed.

"I don't really feel like eating right now," she said sadly.

"Why? Is it because Ren is mad at you?" Ouch. That was a bit harsh, even though she knew that he was mad at her.

"Yeah, I think so. But I don't even know why he would be mad at me!"

"Hmm. Let's see now… You told him and his manager that you would never like to give the notion that you loved him. That might have hurt his manly pride." Kanae laughed a little but Kyoko stared at the table again.

"But he wouldn't want me to be in love with him! He doesn't feel that way about me!"

"Are you sure?" she asked. Kyoko's eyes widened and she said, "Of course! I mean… Why would he?"

At that moment, they heard a woman call out Kyoko's name. They turned around and saw Sho Fuwa's manager-Kyoko thought her name was Shouko or something like that-walking towards them, smiling. _But if Sho's manager is her, _thought Kyoko, _where is-_

"Hey," Kyoko saw a man in dark sunglasses and a baseball hat sit down next to her and put his arm around her shoulders.

"Sho!-" she realized that she had to keep quiet and lowered her voice. "What are you doing here?" she hissed out.

"I wanted to see if the rumors are really true. But I know you would really be dating that pretentious Tsuruga Ren," he smirked. Kyoko felt anger flare up inside of her. How dare he insult Tsuruga!

"And why would it interest you?" she said, shrugging his arm off her shoulders. "It's none of your business."

"Oh, I'm hurt, Kyoko! Of course it is." He leaned forward, grinning. Kyoko was about to push him away when she heard a camera go off. She turned around and saw a young man holding a camera and grinning.

"All right!" he said. "A photo of Kyoko with another man! I hope Ren doesn't get _too_ jealous when this comes out!"

Kyoko gasped and started to get up. Ren couldn't find out that she was with Sho! He would get the wrong idea!

She heard another chair be pulled backwards and saw Sho and Kanae both leap up to get to the man. He got a panicked expression and started running, with the four of them chasing him. Kanae was in the lead, and had almost caught up to him. He turned around to look at them but forgot to look where he was going.

He crashed into the wall of the restaurant ahead of them, and since he had been holding his camera in front of him, it had been crumpled at the impact.

"My camera!" the photographer said in shock, looking at the remains that had fallen. Sho walked over to him and picked up the still-intact film and quickly put it in his pocket.

"I couldn't let that picture get out. I'm not supposed to have an official girlfriend right now."

"They would think that I would be dating you?" Kyoko said, her face contorted into a grimace at the thought.

"Hey, most women would love to go out with Sho Fuwa!" he said.

"I'm not one of them. You better go before I decide to release my demons on you for the trouble that you caused."

"Whatever. I will never understand you," he said, walking toward Shouko and putting his arm around her. "Well I'll see you later, Kyoko. Don't think you can scare me away that easily!"

"I hate him!" said Kyoko to Kanae, while Sho drove off with Shouka. "I don't know why so many girls like him! Now Tsuruga Ren…" she made a dreamy face and Kanae sighed. "Of course, he's just my senpai. I don't _like _him.

"Of course," Kanae said, not sounding very convinced.

"What?" Kyoko turned around to see her again and Kanae could just see the face of an innocent young girl.

"Nothing." She would have to get this sorted out for Kyoko's sake, and she knew which person she should talk to.

*-*-*

"Now why are we going out to a restaurant usually used for couples to discuss this again?" asked Yashiro. Kanae blushed a little bit at that, but hid it with an angry glare.

"We can't be somewhere that we'd usually be, because we can't let Tsuruga or Kyoko to know what we're talking about, or maybe even that we're talking." _Though I hope that Ren and Kyoko would have enough class to avoid this place anyway, _she thought, looking around at the hearts on the walls and the beach-themed furniture. The restaurant was called "The Love Shack" and all of the couples there were paying very little attention to their food, if any. Except, of course, for Kanae and Yashiro. They were currently looking anywhere but each other. Kanae couldn't help noticing the fact that Yashiro was, in his own way, very handsome and spent the rest of the time they spent looking at their menus trying to chase the thought out of her head. After they both decided what they were going to get, they started to talk about the reason that they decided to meet.

"So this is meeting one of Operation RenXKyoko." Kanae spoke in a serious tone and Yashiro laughed. "What?"

"I just didn't think that you were the type of person to have 'secret clubs'." Kanae scowled at him and he said quickly, "No, it's not a bad thing. I kind of like it, actually."

She smiled at him and said, "Okay, thanks." She then laughed together and Kanae suddenly felt more comfortable about working with Yashiro.

"Have you decided what you're going to get?" Kanae looked up at their waitress. She had her blond curly hair up in a ponytail, and her blue eyes and smile fit her as the "bright and bubbly" kind of girl. Yashiro turned around to give his order and she saw their waitress smile wider.

"Is that all you'd like, sir?" she asked after Yashiro gave his order. "For example, would you like my number?" _What? _Thought Kanae. _Is this really the place to pick up a date? _Right after that, she thought, _But why am I so mad? It doesn't bother me, anyways. _But nevertheless, she could feel herself give the waitress an evil look behind Yashiro's back. The waitress stepped back in fear of the negative energies that she was giving off and hurriedly said, "Never-never mind." After getting Kanae's order, she half-ran back to the kitchens.

"That was weird," said Yashiro, turning back to Kanae.

"Uh huh," she said innocently as she sipped her water. They were talking about what they were going to do with Ren and Kyoko (they both had been thinking up ideas for a while, especially Yashiro), when a song came onto the speakers and Yashiro started to hum to it. They had been playing corny love song all through the time they had been there, but Kanae really liked this one.

"You actually like this song?" she asked, grinning. Yashiro nodded a few times, looking a little embarrassed.

"I do too," she said, singing a few lines.

"Really?" Yashiro said, laughing. "You don't seem like the kind of girl who likes corny love songs."

"Well, now you know something about me," she said, smiling.

"Yeah." He smiled back and blushed. _It might not be so bad working with this guy, _Kanae thought.

End of Chapter 3

_A/N:Aww I love the KanaeXYashiro couple. Anyways, next chapter I will get back to the original story line, I promise ;) _


	4. Chapter 4

_A/N:Sorry I haven't updated before now! I've been really busy with school and my new story on FictionPress, but I'm going to be working on this more. Hope you like this chapter!  
_

Chapter 4

A Couple of days later, Kyoko was walking happily with Kanae down a busy street full of shops. She couldn't believe that her best friend had actually asked her to go out with her for the day! She had been feeling a bit discouraged the past couple of days, so this helped her.

After the dancing scene, Kyoko had been fine acting out the scenes where it was awkward between her character and Tsuruga's character, but now that the script said that they would finally get together and become a couple, Kyoko kept making mistakes and generally not conveying the emotions correctly. Tsuruga, of course, did all of the scenes and retakes perfectly, but Director Ogata said that Kyoko seemed like she was still stuck in the character's former emotions instead of moving on.

Kanae had heard this and decided that she (and Yashiro) needed to interfere. Early that morning, she and Kyoko went to a salon to get their hair, nails, and makeup done. After Kyoko insisted that she felt like a princess and that this was a dream several times, they took a taxi to some of Tokyo's best shopping areas and Kyoko had been bouncing around ever since.

"Oh, Moko! Look there! It's an ice cream shop! Do you want to go there?" Kanae grinned to herself. She had asked Yashiro to bring Ren to this same ice cream shop, since she knew Kyoko wouldn't be able to resist it. Of course, she wouldn't be eating the ice cream because she was on a diet, but Kyoko would love it.

*-*-*

After being told by Yashiro that his schedule wasn't as full today and that he should relax, Ren was nearly forced to go to the shopping center, with Yashiro urging him to go get ice cream, even though he knew that he didn't like sweet things. However, Ren decided to maybe get one of the boxes of candy that filled the store for Kyoko, since it seemed like she had been feeling down lately.

He was still deciding when he could hear the door open and saw Kyoko come walking in excitedly. He thought she looked even more cute than usual, with her hair in a small ponytail, her makeup professionally done, and with an ecstatic smile on her face. She looked at him and her smile got even wider.

"Tsuruga!" she yelled, running up to him and hugging him. He looked shocked for a moment, but smiled.

"Why don't you just call me Ren?" he asked her quietly.

"But you're my senpai!" she said, her eyes wide. "But if you want me to."

"Yes. I would like that." They separated again and Kyoko blushed at her rash behavior. Ren laughed quietly and told her, "I'll get you some ice cream. I'm guessing that's why you came in here."

"Thank you Tsu-Ren," she said, smiling at him. Ren went to the counter and ordered Kyoko's ice cream while Kanae and Yashiro shared a conspiratory glance. When Ren went to pay he gave the clerk his credit card accidentally. When he signed his name, she gasped and said quietly, "Tsuruga Ren?"

He turned quickly to her and told her, "I am trying to keep from being noticed right now. Would you mind keeping this between you and I?" He smiled his gentleman's mile and she said, "Oh, ok." She smiled at him and Kyoko almost laughed. Another girl had fallen under the spell of Tsuruga Ren.

After he had paid, Ren brought Kyoko's ice cream to a table in the back where the girl at the front wouldn't be able to see. He had on glasses and a hat, so he didn't think anybody else would recognize him, but he wanted some privacy.

"This is really good!" said Kyoko happily. "Do you want some, Ren?"

"No thank you," he said, waving off her offer. "I don't like sweet things."

"Oh," she said, looking down at her ice cream. For some reason, she looked dejected, and Ren was about to ask why when she lifted her head up, smiling again. She turned around and saw Kanae and Yashiro eating-or more accurate, playing-with Kanae's ice cream. Kanae already had a spot of ice cream on her nose and one at the corner of her mouth, and she was laughing at Yashiro, who was trying to force-feed her the cold food. They both looked like they were in heir own little world, and completely content to be there. Just like Ren would like to be with Kyoko.

Leaning forward, Yashiro gently wiped away the bit of ice cream at the corner of Kanae's mouth, and she blushed. Ren almost sighed at how much he would like to be like that with Kyoko, but knew that she would not let herself fall in love anytime soon. In spite of his thoughts, he reached his hand over to the back of Kyoko's head, just trying to feel her in some way. He had almost touched her hair when Kyoko quickly turned around again.

Ren immediately withdrew his hand, and he didn't think Kyoko noticed, which was good. She had a childish grin on and she asked him, "Do you think those two look like…you know, a couple?" Ren noticed that she seemed so innocent when she said that, and almost sighed again. This child wasn't ready for love, especially not from an older man. Even though the age difference was only a few years, she was still in high school. He shouldn't be thinking about this. But he couldn't help imagining him and Kyoko in Kanae and Yashiro's place.

"Yes," he said quietly. "They really do."

*-*-*

"Are you ready for this?" asked Ren, holding Kyoko's hand and staring into her eyes. He hoped with all his heart that she would say yes, but a small part of him told himself that he should be wanting her to say no, to step way and leave him. She tilted her head down and immediately he missed the image of her face. As she continued to stare at the ground, he could see her shoulders rack in quiet sobs. So the answer must be no.

He was about to step away when he turned her face up again and he gasped. Her expression was a beautiful smile, stained by the tears falling down her cheeks. He was shocked just by her smile, and just stared at her.

"Yes," she cried, nodding furiously and crying, still smiling the angelic smile that seemed to light up Ren's life. She stepped forward quickly and kissed him forcefully, wrapping her arms around his neck. As they broke apart, Ren leaned his forehead against hers and made a small smile, still weak with happiness. "Thank you," he breathed.

"Cut!"

*-*-*

At the break between scenes, Ren and Kyoko went to go have a quick lunch. As they got to a table, Ren said something and smiled at her. Immediately, her heart started racing and she smiled in spite of herself. This was happening to her almost every time she saw Ren, but she didn't really mind it. It made her feel whole for the first time in a long time. Maybe this was…

"So is that a yes?" asked Ren. Kyoko snapped out of her thoughts and asked him, "Sorry, what? I wasn't listening."

"I said, is this table all right?" he laughed.

"Oh. Yes!" she said, laughing with him. "It's perfect."

"That's great," he said pulling her chair back so she could sit down. He then sat down in her chair and they both started to eat their lunches. After a few minutes of quiet chewing, Ren asked her, "I was wondering if you would like to have another dinner with me." Kyoko almost choked when she tried to answer while chewing, but after having a coughing fit and gulping down some water, she smiled weakly.

"Yes," she coughed out, laughing a bit.

"Great!" he smiled. "I'll pick you up at your house at 7:00 again."

"Where are we going this time?" she asked, still smiling.

"I'll leave that a secret," he said, "Just dress casually." Kyoko's brow immediately furrowed in concentration and Ren laughed. "What is that look for?"

"I'm trying to figure out what that means," she said.

"Well, as long as you're ready when I pick you up, it's fine."

"I'll be sure to be ready then," she smiled.

*-*-*

Kyoko trudged down the hallway in her Bo costume but she didn't really mind it. She felt happy and elated all day because of her dinner with Ren and while she was in character, she was almost floating around the stage. The members of Bridge Rock had teased her about being lovesick after the show, while the leader looked away looking somewhat sad. Kyoko didn't notice, though, and just blushed.

As she happily walked down the hallway, she stopped when she saw a figure sitting against the wall. It was Ren! She wanted to run up to him and say hello, but remembered she couldn't. As she looked at him, she noticed that he had an incredibly happy look on his face.

"Hey," she said, walking up to him and smiling. "Why the huge smile?"

"Oh, hello!" he said, continuing to smile happily. "Well, I'm… You know that girl that I was talking to you about?"

"The girl in high school?" As she asked him, she couldn't help but feel a tug at her heart. She had forgotten about the girl that…that Ren was in love with. She wanted to turn away, but kept smiling in her Bo suit, while Ren just kept staring at her with that smile that she knew was not for her, but for the high school girl.

"I think I'm finally truly, completely, unchangeably in love." He sighed happily and leaned backwards. "It's exactly as you said it. Whenever I look at her, I have a feeling of warmth and when she smiles, I can't help but smile back." Kyoko felt tears come to her eyes, but couldn't let Ren see or hear her cry. He would think of her as just and overenthusiastic, dramatic high school girl…wait. She sniffed softly, hoping he wouldn't hear and waited for him to continue.

"You know," he said suddenly, sitting up to look at her again. "Sometimes I feel like getting so angry at her, but I can't. Because she makes me feel so _good _at the same time." He laughed and said, "Oh listen to me. I sound like a lovesick teenager. But I can't help but feel excited."

"Why?" Kyoko asked, her breath suddenly coming quickly.

"I'm going out to dinner tonight with her. And I know she doesn't feel the same way about me, but I don't care! I just want to be there with her. That's enough for me." _Dinner tonight?_ Thought Kyoko. _Then the high school girl, the one that Ren is in love with, is…me. _She felt a flood of relief go through her and she smiled inside of the costume.

"I hope you have a great night. I have a feeling that she might change her feelings about you," she said, smiling at him.

"Well, I wish you were right, but you don't know Kyo…her," he finished off awkwardly. "Look I have to go now, but I'm glad I talked to you."

"It was good talking to you as well," she said with a wave, waddling off in the other direction.

*-*-*

That night, at 7:00, Kyoko was waiting by the street for Ren to pick her up. Even though Ren had said to dress casually, she decided to wear another black dress, this time with slightly more comfortable shoes. With Ren, she didn't know if he actually dressed casually in public, so she decided it was better to be overdressed than underdressed.

She saw Ren's car come around the corner and got ready. After he parked the car in front of the Daruyama building, he smiled at her and stepped out of the car. She gasped as she saw that he was in jeans and black, light sweater.

"I did tell you to dress casually," he laughed. She blushed and said, "Well I didn't know what you meant! So I thought, where can I go wrong in a little black dress? But I'm still dressed up!"

"It doesn't matter. From what I see, you would look fabulous in anything, and especially in this." He smiled his gentleman's smile and opened the door to the car for her. "And actually, we aren't actually going anywhere where there are a lot of people."

"Where exactly _are_ we going?" she asked, curious.

"I'll show you when we get there," he said, grinning at her confused face.

After about ten minutes of Ren driving and talking with Kyoko easily, he instructed Kyoko to close her eyes. "I'll tell you when you can open them. It will be better this way." She grinned and nodded. They rode for a few more minutes until Kyoko felt the car stop. Ren opened her door and told her, "No peeking." She quickly closed the gaps between her fingers and slowly got out of her seat.

She was acutely aware of Ren's guiding hand on her back and couldn't help smiling.

"Okay, you can open them now," he said. She opened her eyes and gasped. They were in the middle of some kind of park, with trees surrounding them and a fountain trickling near them. She couldn't see much since it was dark, but the things that she did see were beautiful.

"It's beautiful, Ren!" she said, turning around and smiling at him.

"I'm glad you like it," he grinned. "I got some packed dinners, if you don't mind."

"No, that sounds great," she said. "But where are we going to sit?"

"I hadn't really thought it out that much, really" he said, laughing sheepishly. "I thought maybe we could sit under one of the trees?"

"That's fine," she smiled. "I guess this is why you told me to dress casually?" They both walked over to a tree and sat under the leafy branches while Kyoko admired the full moon that was shining brightly in the reflection of the fountain. And for some reason, this dinner seemed even more special than the one at the fancy restaurant…

*-*-*

"Thank you so much for the wonderful night!" Kyoko said to Ren, standing on the sidewalk facing the driver's window. Ren stuck his head out the window smiled. "It was my pleasure. I hope that we can do something like this soon. For business, of course."

"Or not," she spoke quietly, and decided to take a chance. She leaned forward and softly kissed Ren on the lips. As she straightened up, Ren stuttered out, "K-Kyoko…"

"You and I both know that these aren't going to continue to be business meetings'." He nodded and looked down.

"How did you know, though?" He thought he had kept the secret so well!

"A little birdie told me," she told him with a sneaky smile on her face. "Or more specifically, a chicken." She quickly turned around and ran up to the building, grinning.

End of Chapter 4

_A/N: Okay theres a bunch of things I want to say: 1: awww I love the guy in Bridge Rock, and he's so cute, but oh well. I can't really figure out a match for him to be in, so he's not going to have a happy ending. So sad. 2: I love the yashiroxkanae couple! I might be developing their relationship even more now. 3: I don't actually know why Kyoko's in the Bo costume. Any ideas? 4:I'll get the next chapter out soon. I hope it's better next time!(this isn't really my best work)_


	5. Chapter 5

_A/N: Sorry I haven't been getting out my chapters very quickly anymore! I've been super swamped with schoolwork and the only story that I really write quickly is my story on Fictionpress, Nonexistent. So I've been working on two other stories at the moment, but I'll try my hardest to come out with another chapter as soon as possible!_ :D

Chapter 5

The next day, Ren was waiting outside of the Daruyama building as Kyoko left to get to the set of LLF. She was shocked at first, but smiled at him as she got to the car.

"Hey," she said shyly.

"Can I give you a ride?" he asked her, grinning.

"Why happened last night? Why won't anybody tell me anything?" asked Yashiro.

"Nothing. Get in the back set," Ren told him, still grinning at Kyoko.

"All right…" he moped. Inside, however, he was celebrating. Something must have finally happened! He couldn't wait to tell Kanae… and maybe plan another meeting/dinner to talk it over?

During the ride to the set, both Kyoko and Ren mostly stared out the window. Ren looked over at Kyoko and noticed that she was fidgeting nervously. Why was she nervous? She might have thought last night was a mistake… He felt shocked when, as he was staring out the window sadly again, he felt Kyoko touch his hand. She looked at him hopefully and he smiled. The rest of the ride there, the two held hands while Yashiro tried not to notice.

*-*-*

That day, on set, Kyoko was introduced to the child actors who would play their children. With a shock, Kyoko realized that it really wouldn't be that long until the filming was over and she felt a sense of sadness come over her. When she and Ren weren't seeing each other every day at filming, would they eventually drift apart? But while they were practicing some post-Daichi's death scenes, her desperation and hopeless sadness fit in perfectly with the character's emotions.

"Mommy?" Kyoko looked down and saw a small child clutching at her legs. "Why are you sad, Mommy?"

"It's nothing." She covered her emotions up with a smile and told him, "Now we have to go to bed now. Santa won't come if we're not asleep, right?"

"Right!" The little boy bounded away and the director yelled, "Cut!"

"Was that okay?" she asked the director.

"It was perfect! Exactly what we're looking for!" eh smiled. "I think you work perfectly with the child actors we chose, so we're going to start filming those scenes soon." She smiled again and walked over to the boy who would play her oldest son.

"Hey, did you hear that? I looks like we're going to be working with each other a lot more from now on."

"Great! You're a nice mommy!" He smiled up at her and she felt her heart warm up a little. The boy, around the age of five, had dark brown hair that flopped over his eyes and a face that was continually in a toothy grin. A woman called his name and he jogged over to her, smiling one last time at Kyoko. As she watched him continue to run away from her, she kind of got what the president had told her about loving people, and trying to get them to like her. Because all she wanted at that moment was that child to say something like that again.

*-*-*

"What?" Kyoko's world just started to splinter and fall apart in front of her. How could this have happened? Why was it happening to them?

"I can go for a second opinion, but I don't think it's going to change." Ren was dying? It didn't seem possible. He was always there for her, and now…now she had to be there for him. She felt hopeless tears well up in her eyes and wrapped her arms around him, gripping the fabric of his jacket like he was going to disappear any moment.

"What are we going to do?" she choked out. "What about the kids? What should we tell them?"

"I don't know…" It was unnerving to see Ren without an answer to her problems, and she just sobbed harder.

"It can be treated, right? We can't lose all hope." She wiped her eyes, trying to look stronger than she felt. Because now, it was Ren's turn to be depending on her.

"That's right. Don't worry, I'm not going to leave you." He smiled at her, holding her face in his familiar hands, but Kyoko could see the fear in his eyes that he was trying to hide.

Kyoko could barely distinguish the change between the end of the scene and outside, offset. Event though she and Ren had been acting together every day, for some reason she felt like he had been slipping away from her. And even if she had finally learned to let love in somewhat, it wasn't doing her much. She felt miserable all the time because she didn't know what Ren was thinking, or if this was even the right decision. Or maybe she was just too awkward with him, and he felt uncomfortable with her? Either way, she always felt a dull pang in her heart whenever she had the thought that Ren might get tired of her. What could she do to make him see that she was worth it?...

*-*-*

As Ren stepped out of his car, going to his next location, he couldn't get Kyoko's earlier expression out of his head. What was she thinking about at that moment? He would give anything to know…

But what if the reason that she had look so sad, so hopeless, was because of him? He frowned slightly at that thought, thinking of what he had done wrong. He didn't think he had said anything hurtful, but then again, with Kyoko it was never obvious. Maybe she was just upset with something at one of her other sets? But he turned the focus back to him. Maybe he hadn't been treating her as properly as he should. Or maybe the problem was just that she still felt like he should be just her senpai and didn't want to continue their emotions that had just begun to grow, after his years of waiting.

After his job there, he headed back to his car. Yashiro had called in "sick" again, and there hadn't been enough time to get another manager for him, but it had worked out finally. Besides, Yashiro was handling most of his work from his cellphone as he was on his "business meeting" with Kanae. He shook his head and quietly laughed. They weren't fooling anybody with that, but it was fun to watch them try.

As he neared his spot, though, he was surprised to find that there were two legs flailing out of his open front window of his car. He instantly recognized them as Kyoko's, even though he had no idea how he knew that… But she looked like she was in trouble, so he hurried to her side. _This should have an interesting explanation, _though Ren. Knowing Kyoko, though, it probably was.

*-*-*

_How do I explain this? _thought Kyoko, safely on the ground again. She had an idea before to give Ren a gift of some kind to show him how she felt, but he didn't like sweet things… So she decided to make something homemade.

After that was thought out, she decided where to put it so that Ren would be sure to see it. His car would be nice, since it wasn't that far away, but once she got to it, she realized that she had no other way of getting it in there than a barely-open window. _Well I can't just chuck it in! _she had thought. So she tried crawling up and into the space, but as soon as she got halfway inside, she had realized that she was stuck.

"Well…" she started blushing, thinking that Ren would think of her as an even bigger idiot now. "I wanted to put something-a gift- in your car… and I got stuck." She couldn't see his expression, but she was sure it was angry. After all, she could have damaged his car doing that! She should just punish herself now to get it over with…

"I'm sorryyyy!" she told him while looking up, her eyes streaming with tears. But when she saw his expression, her tears immediately stopped and she looked at him, dumbfounded. Tsuruga Ren was trying not to laugh. Actually, it looked like he was trying to cough unsuccessfully, but as soon as he saw her expression, he started to actually laugh out loud.

"Ren?..." He looked down at her again, his eyes filled with tears from the laughing, and smiled.

"Yes, Kyoko? Did you think you were going to be punished?" She nodded slowly and he laughed quietly again. "I'm not angry at all with you. I'm just glad you're not hurt." She nodded again, her eyes filled with tears for the second time that day. _Ren is so niiice. I don't deserve him… _He held his hand to her cheek, wondering what he could do to make her feel better.

"Hey, weren't you trying to give me something?" She nodded fiercely and drew something from behind her back.

"Well, I was thinking fo getting you something important, and the most important material thing that I have is Corn!" she said, referring to the small blue stone that she always had with her. "So I decided to give you Corn, but in a different way, I guess…" She opened her fingers and Ren looked at the thing that she was holding. _She made a doll of…me? _"I made you this Corn doll, so whenever you're feeling bad, or just want to calm down, you can concentrate on this and your bad feelings will go away!" She smiled at him and he looked back at the doll. _Oh. It's of 'Corn,' not me. _The hair was definitely a blond color, and it looked a lot younger than him. _Kyoko's memory seems to be as fantastic as ever, _he thought. As he kept looking at it, though, he couldn't' help but start to laugh again.

"Is it really that bad?" she asked, looking up at him sadly. "I can make you something else, if you want…"

"No, this is perfect," he said, smiling and pulling her to him for a hug. "I love it. Thank you for this." She nodded happily against his chest and he felt an elated sensation come through him. "There is one thing, though. Could you make me a Kyoko doll to go with it? That way I can ward off evil spirits _and _feel happy at the same time."

"Of course! I'll get right on that!" she said, pulling away from him. Ren missed her contact at once, though, and pulled her back against him gently.

"Can you just stay here, like this, for a little longer?" He could feel her blushing and smiled. She slowly wrapped her arms around him and sighed, making Ren decided that this was the best gift that he had ever received.

End of Chapter 5

_A/N: I'm thinking that there's not going to be too many more chapters in this story, since the filming's almost completed, so I'll try to get out with them as soon as possible! Of course, there might be a way to get me to move faster... (hint hint, reviews)_


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Kyoko was walking along the halls of the LME building again when she heard the hushed whispers of some young actresses around the corner where she was going. She heard her name, and now curious, she crept up to the corner to listen. She wouldn't do something like this normally, but she had started feeling paranoid ever since her relationship with Ren had been publicly announced.

"I know! Where does she get off telling people that _Tsuruga Ren _is actually dating her! Like he would ever go out with someone like her. So plain!"

Yeah, just because she's had some good roles doesn't mean that she's top actress material!" Kyoko almost sighed out loud. She had gotten used to the harsh words like this from the girls on Box R, but now it was all so _boring. _She was about to walk by the girls to see what their shocked emotions would look like, but stopped when she heard the first girl speak again.

"And Ren hasn't said anything about it publicly. That just means that he really doesn't want to be in a relationship with _Kyoko-chan," _she said sarcastically.

"It's probably just another publicity stunt. I mean, who are they fooling?" Kyoko tried not to let the words affect her, but they still seemed to pierce her in all her weak points. She had grown stronger in her confidence for herself, but with Ren it was different. She couldn't tell what he was thinking half of the time, even when they were talking honestly with each other. They had been dating for a month and a half now, but she still felt as if she didn't know him any better than any of his fans. And what if he _did _just think of this as just a publicity stunt again? It would be pay-back for what she had told him before, but he wouldn't do that… She knew that he wasn't that kind of person, but still felt the doubt that crept through her mind.

She was still thinking through it, dazed, when she realized that they had started walking her way. She scrambled out of the way, not wanting them to see her like this. She still had to sort through her emotions, and right now she couldn't' think straight. Seeing a janitor's closet, she ducked inside and shut the door quickly behind her. In the darkness, sitting between a mop and several wet towels, she struggled not to lose control of herself. A few minutes ago, she hadn't felt anything wasn't perfect with her relationship with Ren, but right now, she couldn't help but feel that something was wrong.

The door opened and Kyoko realized that she had been sitting there for at least five minutes. Blinking back the bright light, she could see the familiar face of Ren.

"What are you doing in here, Kyoko?" he asked with a grin. _Do you make it a habit of randomly opening janitor's closets? _she wanted to say back, but for some reason the words died in her throat and she just stared down at her feet. "Here. I'll help you up." He reached his hand down for her, and she took it, noticing how large and warm it was. It seemed to calm her a little bit, but she noticed that he seemed a little tense.

"Ren what's wrong?" she asked, worried that it had something to do with her. He looked at her, surprised, and then smiled the fake smile that Kyoko dreaded.

"Nothing, Kyoko." She felt her heart lurch as she realized that Ren was shutting her off once more. _Why can't you just let me in? _she asked desperately in her mind.

"Oh. Well, if you'll excuse me, I have somewhere to go… Goodbye." She turned around quickly, not wanting the tears that appeared on her cheeks to be shown. _This is ridiculous1 _she thought. _I shouldn't be getting upset about this, but… _She couldn't help thinking that maybe this had been coming fro a while. If she couldn't get Ren to be completely honest with her, then how was this going to work out?

*-*-*

The next day, she was still feeling upset, but didn't let it show. After all, it could all be for nothing. She was going to go look for Ren when she saw him standing inside Yashiro's office. As soon as she was about to go in, though, she heard her name and slipped back, not wanting to let them know that she was there. _I seem to be doing this a lot nowadays, _she thought.

"Well are you sure you don't want to tell her? She might want to know." She agreed with Yashiro, since they were talking about her. But tell her what?

"No, I don't think so. It might be the best thing." Kyoko felt a flare of anger go through her and wanted to barge in right then. Why didn't Ren want to tell her anything? She felt insulted and more than a little hurt.

"Maybe you're right," Yashiro agreed slowly. "We wouldn't' want her to overreact, especially since she's not for certain." _I'm not for certain? What does that mean? Does Ren not feel certain that he wants to be dating me?_

"Right," he smiled. Kyoko felt a stab of pain in her heart at Ren's confirmation and turned away. She wanted to go back to the way it was before, with her being oblivious to love, but it wasn't working. She had already fallen too far to get out, and she wished that she had never let the emotions that filled her constantly now into her heart.

*-*-*

"Right," Ren answered. "I'll be able to tell her soon, when the director makes all of the finalities."

"I still can't believe that he agreed to let Kyoko co-star with actor X!"

"It took a lot of persuading, but he finally was able to see that Kyoko's talent would be just what the drama needed. And since it's turning out to be a popular drama, it will boost her acting career as well!"

"She's going to be happy," Yashiro told him quietly, smiling. Ren noticed that he probably showed his nervous emotions on his face and smiled. He hoped that she would be, but the never knew what she was thinking. It seemed like even when he tried hard to make her happy, she always took things the wrong way….

"I hope she is."

*-*-*

The next morning, as Ren was driving to the set of LLF, he wondered what was wrong with Kyoko. The past couple of times that he had gone to pick her up to go to work, he had been told that she had gone earlier. Later, when he asked about it, she would always come up with vague answers and would remain silent afterwards. He wondered if there was something going on, but could never find anything out. Yashiro's phone rang and he answered it, disturbing the tense silence in the car.

"Hello? Yes. Yeah. Oh really? That's great news! I'll be sure to tell him." He clicked his phone shut and turned to Ren. "The director finally gave Kyoko the part! He's going to ask you to tell her the news, instead of the normal manager that would tell her."

"All right," he agreed. Maybe this would be the thing that would finally make Kyoko smile around him again?

As he walked on set towards Kyoko, however, he saw her instinctively turn away and pretend not to notice him. It hurt him to see how sad she seemed, and wondered what had caused it.

"Hello, Kyoko," he said with a smile.

"Hello…" she mumbled out.

"Hey, I have-"He was cut off by a stage assistant calling out to him. He was supposed to be getting ready now, but he wanted to tell Kyoko this! But when he turned around after talking to the assistant, he couldn't see Kyoko anywhere. Now where did she go off to?

*-*-*

_This is it. The final scene. _Kyoko prepped herself as she and Ren stepped out onto the set and was already terrified at the prospect of doing this. She might not be able to handle losing Ren completely.

"All right, Kyoko. We're ready for you now," the director called out. She nodded and walked towards the hospital bed that Ren was in. With the makeup that they had on him, he looked deathly ill, but he still smiled at her as she came close. _Stop making this so difficult! _she wanted to tell him. She was already dreading the fact that their relationship wouldn't work out and could perfectly display the emotions for losing a loved one.

"All right. Are you ready?" asked Director Ogata.

"Yeah." _Not really. _The scene began and the cameras started rolling, but Kyoko suddenly couldn't remember her lines.

"Cut! Are you all right, Kyoko?"

"Yeah. Yeah," she said, shaking her head. As soon as she saw Ren smiling at her comfortingly, though, she remembered her lines again and felt calmer. She felt worse, though, because she knew that she was getting more and more dependent on Ren.

"All right. Take two!" The scene began again and Kyoko sat down next to Ren's bed.

"Do you want me to get you anything?" she asked him lovingly, looking down at him and stroking his cheek.

"No, I'm all right," he answered. She started towards him, though, when he shivered violently. "No…s'all right…" He closed his eyes slowly but Kyoko shook him gently.

"Daichi? Daichi!" Tears automatically sprang to her eyes and she desperately looked around for the button to press to get the nurses.

"I…feel cold," he mumbled out through chattering lips. "Can you come here?"

"Yes! Yes, what do you need?" she asked, rushing to his side again.

"I think…I think this is it…" His eyes had become unfocused, but they still held all of the love and admiration that he always had when looking at her. A whole new wave of tears left her and she started to just break down at his bedside.

"No. No…no no no no no," she spoke quietly, shaking her head. "Daichi, it can't"

"I…" He struggled to reach his hand up to her cheek and gave her one last smile. "Love you. I always will."

"I love you too," she cried through her tears. They were not the acting tears that they had always told her to do in the classes, but real sloppy tears that made her makeup run down her face and her nose and mouth look disgusting. He nodded again and his hand dropped slowly onto the sheet. "Daichi- Daichi!" She called out for the nurses again, but it was no use. Ren's eyes remained blank and unseeing and she knew that Daichi was dead. She even almost believed it as several actresses dressed as nurses swarmed into the room. The only thing she could do, though, was to hold her hand to her mouth and choke out sobs as the stage light dimmed and the scene ended.

"Cut! That was perfect, Kyoko and Ren! I think that's a wrap!" Kyoko looked around at the filming crew and saw that most of them looked on the verge of tears.  
In fact, she didn't feel like she was finished crying yet. This scene with Ren only convinced her more that Ren was gone to her, and she felt the helplessness engulf her.

"Excuse me," she said, walking off the set shakily and running to the bathroom. She knew it would probably look strange, and that people would follow her, but at the moment nothing mattered with the though o Ren not being in her life anymore.

*-*-*

After Kyoko ran off the set, Ren immediately got up and started to walk after her when Yashiro stopped him.

"You should probably change clothes first. You're still in a hospital gown," he whispered. If Ren blushed ever, he would have at that point, and he grabbed the clothes that Yashiro was handing him, walking quickly to the changing room.

By the time he got into his normal clothes, he heard that Kyoko had gone behind the building and wasn't talking to anybody. He rushed outside and saw her huddled in the cold, surrounded by several of her friends from the set.

"Kyoko." They looked up and her friends backed off, understanding that they might need some privacy. "Kyoko, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," she told him quietly, putting her head down.

"Now you and I both know that's not true. Just tell me what's wrong!" he pleaded with her.

"Nothing! I'm fine!" she shouted at him. Her eyes widened and she turned around.

"Kyoko-"He placed his hand on her shoulder as she turned around.

"Ren…" Her eyes were filled with pain and he stepped back, wondering what could have caused it. "I think… I think I made a mistake."

"What?" he asked, still confused. What did this have to do with her being sad?

"I think when I started acting in this, my emotions got confused with my characters. I got really into it…" She probably expected for him to answer, but he was too shocked to speak. "I think both of us have. And now that out scenes together are over, maybe we should just…take a break."

"What makes you think that my emotions are fake?" he nearly shouted, still not believing what he was hearing. Didn't' she know that he had been in love with her ever since he met her? Sure, he only realized it himself a little while ago, but he always had been.

"I'm sorry… I just have to go." With that, she turned around and walked off in the other direction, leaving Ren wondering what he had done wrong.

*-*-*

_A/N: Now isn't that the cheesiest ending you've ever read? :D haha I actually love cheesy stuff, but I toned it down a bit for you guys. I'm going to come out with the next chapter soon, but it will be out sooner if you review! (hint hint) Also, just to let you know, any names I make up in this are just chosen by chance and are the first name that I come across that reasonably suits the character. Just if you were wondering. It's a bit late at this point, since I'll only have one or two chapters left, but still…_


	7. Chapter 7

_A/N: Okay, here's the last chapter! Be prepared for a LOT of crying! :D Seriously. I might have been putting my own sad emotions of ending this fic when i was writing Kyoko's part._

Chapter 7

It seemed as if Ren and Kyoko's relationship dissolved overnight. The reporters stopped bugging them, and they never were together anymore, since that had been Ren's last day of filming. On the surface, it seemed as if nothing was wrong, but both of their thoughts were directed towards each other all of the time. Kyoko was able to keep filming the post-Daichi's-death scenes in LLF perfectly, but several times during a day she would begin to think about Ren too much and need to take a break before she began crying.

It had been a week so far, but Kyoko didn't feel like any of the pain had worn off. She wasn't working today, so all of her motivation to get out of bed left her. As her phone began to ring, she sluggishly left her pile of blankets and pillows and reached for her cell.

"Hello?" she asked sleepily.

"Kyoko! You sound awful! What have you been doing all this time? I've been calling you for five minutes now!"

"Sorry, Moko… I was busy doing something." She seemed to be more and more out of it, and hoped that she would be able to snap out of it, and hoped that she would be able to snap out if it soon. She couldn't just be sleeping all day!

"Really? Doing what?"

"Sleeping…" she admitted.

"Kyoko, it's 1:00 in the afternoon. Don't you think that's a bit late to stay in?"

"Maybe…" She didn't feel energetic enough to think of a real answer, even to her best friend.

"Listen, Kyoko, I'm worried. It's been a week already and you don't seem to be getting better" Before, Kyoko would have loved the attention she was getting from her friend, but now she just wanted to go back to bed and forget the world for a few more hours. "So is that all right?"

"What?" she asked guiltily for spacing out again.

"I'm coming over there to pick you up before I go to my next job. You can stay at my apartment or follow me, but you need to get out. You've been like a ghost these past few days."

"All right," she said, not wanting to get in an argument with Moko too.

"I'll be over there in 15 minutes. You better be ready by then." The phone clicked off and Kyoko sighed. She didn't want to face her best friend's anger, so she had to get ready soon….

*-*-*

"So you sure you're all right her? You don't want to come with me?" asked Kanae in her apartment.

"Yeah. I'll be good," she answered.

"Okay. If you want company, you can always go over to my siblings' room. They'll be happy to see you," she said grimly. Kyoko nodded and Kanae went to the door.

"And if you want anything to eat, just grab something from the fridge." Kyoko nodded again and Kanae sighed. "Bye, Kyoko. Take care while I'm gone." The door shut closed and Kyoko stared at it for a few moments.

"Goodbye." She turned around and walked towards the couch. Remembering the DVD she had brought, she went over to the TV set and put it in.

The director had given her a rough copy of the scenes that had been shot so far to go over her acting. As the movie started, Kyoko turned the lights off and walked to Kanae's kitchen. She found a small tub of ice cream in the freezer and wondered why it was there. _Kanae doesn't even like this flavor, let alone ice cream, _she though. Shrugging, she got a spoon and settled down into the couch.

The movie was at the point where she met Ren's character for the first time. She braced herself for the emotions that she knew were on her face at that point. Sure enough, as soon as their gaze met across a crowded room full of people, the only way to describe Kyoko at that point was in love.

As the scenes went by, Kyoko could remember all of the emotions that had gone through her head at that point.

"Are you ready for this?" Ren asked her on-stage. The Kyoko in real life looked at him with love and pain in her eyes as eh knew that she would answer yes to him any time he asked her this. The love that the President had told her to gain when she first came to LME flowed through her constantly now, and it was mostly because of Ren. _I love Ren, _she realized. _I love him so, so much. _The thoughts in her mind didn't help her at all, though, as she paused the movie on a view of Ren's face. It would be a long time before she would hit play again, and in the time in between that, the only thing she wanted to do was curl up in a little ball and cry.

*-*-*

The next day, Kyoko went to work in an even more depressed state. She barely got through her scenes with the child actors, and eventually the director called her out on it.

"Kyoko, I'm just thinking that you're not really into the emotions of the character right now. She's in the middle of getting over Daichi's death and feeling happy again. It just seems like you're making the scenes darker than what they're supposed to be."

"I'm sorry," she said, her eyes watering up embarrassingly. "Gah, I'm sorry. I'm just a little-"

"I understand," the director said kindly. "But I think you should take a break for a while, until you get things sorted out."

"No, I'm all right, really-"

"I insist." The director's eyes turned cold and Kyoko knew that she had worn through his patience.

"Okay," she said, bowing as she felt the tears come to her cheeks again. She felt humiliated that she couldn't do her job, but just didn't know what to do. She wanted to be back in Ren's arms again, but whenever she thought about it, the thought that he didn't trust her enough to let her into his life filled her with enough pain to push the thought out of her head.

She walked across the parking lot to her bike and collapsed onto the ground next to it, folding herself over her knees and trying not to break down for what seemed like the five-hundredth time in the past few days. She heard footsteps coming near, though, and looked up sharply, gasping as she saw who was standing in front of her.

"Hello, Mogami," Tsuruga Ren said, smiling at her sadly. He still looked like his usual super-star handsome self, but something seemed to be missing.

"Why are you here?" she asked him quietly. _He doesn't act here anymore, does he? _"And why did you call me Mogami?"

"I just wanted to stop by to talk to you. I… understand if you don't want to be in a relationship with me anymore," he said sadly. "I can just be you senpai, if you like. That's all I can ask for."

"Baka Ren…" she muttered through frustrated tears, pointing her face to the ground again and wiping her eyes.

"What?" She turned her face to his again and got up. Even with her standing up, though, Ren still had to tilt his head down to see her. Kyoko wished she could be comforted in his tall, strong body again, but knew that it wouldn't help now, while she still felt as if Ren was pushing her away whenever she talked to him.

"I didn't mean that. I don't want to be just your kohai…" She sniffed again and knew that she was making a mess of her face again.

"Than why?" he asked her, placing his hands on her cheeks.

"It's because you're always shutting me out!" she shouted, her tears flowing down her cheeks in spite of her efforts to keep them contained (which hadn't been working out well). "You never tell me the truth or what you're thinking. I barely know anything about you, and it's seriously pissing me off!" She felt like she was about to explode, but stopped when she saw Ren's face. He seemed to be trying not to laugh. "Reeen…" she cried out, feeling a bit pathetic and strange-looking.

"No, go on," Ren laughed out as Kyoko stared at him oddly.

"What's so funny?' she asked angrily. "I'm serious, here!"

"I'm sorry, "Kyoko." He cleared up his laughter with a few coughs and stared at her with a small smile on his face. "It's just all this time, I was shutting you out to protect you, to make sure that you didn't want to run away. And now I find out that that's what you've been angry about all this time! And I thought it was something like I had a bad personality, or something. But I can fix this, so I'm relieved."

"You were closing me off… to protect me?" she asked. He nodded and she hit his chest. It didn't' hurt but he pretended to wince for her sake. "Why didn't' you ask me? I should… I should…" She began to cry again, much to her embarrassment, and Ren took her into a hug.

"I'm sorry… I won't keep you away again. I'll do anything at this point to keep you with me." She nodded into his chest and sniffed again.

"Ren?" she asked him, turning her face toward him again.

"Yes?"

"I want to be with you forever." She almost winced, thinking how dorky that sounded.

"You want a Love to Last Forever?" He winced as she hit him again playfully. "Okay, okay. I'll stop with the corny sayings."

"Good," she smiled, reaching up on her toes to kiss him. Who knows, maybe this would become a love to last forever?

*-*-*

The bell to the ice-cream shop dinged, signaling the entrance of a laughing young couple into the store. They settled down at a table after getting their order and started to talk casually with each other.

"And then, he started imitating Ren Tsuruga-"

"Oh, Ren Tsuruga! He's so dreeeamy," teased the girl, laughing.

"Yeah, I know I can't add up to Ren Tsuruga," hr boyfriend said sarcastically. "But you have to be careful, hun. He's a married man now."

"I know…" she sighed. "And I probably would want to kill his wife if it weren't Kyoko. She's now my favorite actress, after I saw her in A Love to Last Forever. She was so good! I was in tears the whole time!"

"I know. I was in the movie theater with you, remember?"

"Oh, right," she laughed. "It's a shame that she's going to stop acting for awhile to raise a family, though. But I hear that after a few years, she might star in another movie! That's what I heard in the magazines, anyways."

"Well, you can't believe all you read. In fact, I just saw this story where aliens…" The couple continued to chatter cheerfully as a couple a few booths down, both wearing sunglasses, grinned.

"I still can't believe it whenever I hear somebody talking about 'Ren and Kyoko'," the woman said. She had shoulder length black glossy hair pulled back from her face and was staring at the man in front of her, smiling.

"You better get used to it soon. You're getting quite popular, you know," he smiled back at her.

"Well, but it's not easy having a husband who's the most sought-after man in Japan," she said. "I guess I'll just have the most beautiful son that they've ever seen, then," she told him, gazing fondly at the bulge that was beginning to form under her clothes.

"Then I bet he'll look more like his mother than his father," he told her, staring into her eyes and smiling.

"Well, if his personality's anything like mine, he had better watch out," she said, laughing quietly.

"That's for sure." He smiled at her and leaned forward to give her a kiss.

*-*-*

_A/N: Okay, I want to say a thank-you out to everybody who's read my story and especially the people who have reviewed! :) This has been a lot of fun to write, and I hope it was as much fun to read! Also, I want to clear some things up:_

_For the people thinking: hey, I was reading that! Why did it suddenly just end? I was actually thinking of dragging the whole long process of them getting back together out, but once i put pen to paper, it seemed like a better idea to just write it out in one chapter._

_I also should have mentioned the whole co-starring deal with Actor X, but it didn't really fit into the plot, so I just left it out. Sorry! D:_

_The last part of the chapter was about a year afterwards. I'm not really sure how long, but it is in the future somewhat._

_Well.... I think that's it! Hope you enjoyed reading my first shot at a Skip Beat fanfic!_

_--FoSiz  
_


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